Page 135 - SAMENA Trends - March-April 2022

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

example, if the renewal date is the 31st, in months that writes, citing a speech from BSNL Chairman PK Purwar.
have fewer than 31 days the plan should be renewed on The tie-up would hand the loss-making operator an
the last day of the month. In January this year the TRAI additional 567,000km of fiber, connecting 185,000
ordered those mobile providers offer at least one Plan villages nationwide. The paper notes that unnamed
Voucher, Special Tariff Voucher and Combo Voucher BBNL officials questioned the decision, given BSNL’s
with validity of 30 days and one Plan Voucher, Special difficulties in completing BharatNet-related projects.
Tariff Voucher and Combo Voucher that is renewable on The officials also expressed concerns regarding the
the same date of each month. The order had followed plan to transfer the network, which was intended to
complaints from lawmakers and consumer advocate provide non-discriminatory access to all players, to a
groups that the standard 28-day billing period used by single provider. In a separate development, meanwhile,
most operators did not represent ‘monthly’ billing, as it the chairman was quoted as saying that BSNL expects
resulted in users paying at least 13 bills a year. Further, revenue of INR170 billion (USD2.24 billion) in the
users complained of the inconvenience of irregular year to 31 March 2022, down slightly from INR174.5
top-ups caused by the 28-day billing period. billion in the preceding year. The executive attributed
(April 1, 2022) commsupdate.com the dip to the loss of interconnect revenues following
the elimination of mobile termination charges from 1
The Indian government is planning to merge Bharat January 2021. Mr. Purwar added that the company’s
Broadband Nigam Limited (BBNL) – the special 4G launch was on track to take place later this year and
purpose vehicle established by the government for the dismissed claims that the company would struggle
deployment of a nationwide fiber network (BharatNet) to compete with privately backed cellcos, which are
– into state-owned full-service provider Bharat gearing up for a 5G launch in 2023.
Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the Economic Times (March 21, 2022) commsupdate.com

The Commission for Communications Regulation spectrum rights’. Having received submissions from
(ComReg) has published a decision confirming it will eir, Three Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland and Vodafone
extend its COVID-19 temporary licensing framework Ireland in response to its consultation on the plans,
for what it intends to be a final time. Having earlier this it said that having now considered these it was of the
Ireland month set out its proposals for a further temporary opinion that it was indeed appropriate to implement a
licensing framework beyond 1 April 2022, it said at further temporary licensing framework for frequencies
the time it saw a need to provide current licensees in the 700MHz and 2100MHz bands for a period of up
‘a reasonable period of time to manage an orderly to six months from 1 April 2022.
transition … away from the use of COVID-19 temporary (March 17, 2022) commsupdate.com

The Italian government’s Infratel agency has launched locations. The government wants the entire country to
tenders worth EUR2 billion (USD2.2 billion) for the have access to mobile broadband speeds of at least
rollout of 5G technology in rural areas which will not 150Mbps by 2026. The EUR2 billion funding is on top
be covered by the commercial deployments of the of the EUR3.7 billion already earmarked to support the
Italy country’s cellcos. The contracts, which will see the upgrade of fixed broadband services across Italy, the
government providing up to 90% of the rollout costs, EUR600 million set aside to connect schools, and the
call for the installation of fiber-optic infrastructure to EUR45 million allocated to reach smaller islands.
connect more than 10,000 existing mobile tower sites (March 23, 2022) commsupdate.com
and the construction of new 5G sites in over 2,000

According to local press reports, the government of 5G technology can benefit as many people as possible’.
Japan intends to issue additional 5G-suitable mobile It is understood the state plans to see cellcos increase
frequencies to domestic operators to boost coverage coverage still further to 97% by the end of fiscal 2025,
to 95% of the population by end-March 2024 (fiscal and 99% by fiscal 2030. Furthermore, the report claims
Japan 2024). The Communications Minister, Kaneko Yasushi that domestic carriers will be offered subsidies to help
the deployment of base transceiver stations in remote,
said: ‘Speedy expansion of 5G availability is a must. We
will swiftly establish the necessary environment so that less economically feasible areas. (April 6, 2022) NHK World

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